Decolonizing the YA North: Environmental Injustice in Sherri L. Smith’s Orleans

<p>Young Adult (YA) dystopias, in recent years, have imagined a future world fueled by the overuse and misuse of technology, the advancement of science for human gain, as well as societies ruled by governments that govern based on their own self-interests and economic gain. Such novels have opened the door for discussion about how the present-day actions of societies can impact the future of the environment; yet many only focus their attention on societies in the North— regions considered “developed” by the western world. In her YA novel, <em>Orleans</em> (2014), Sherri L. Smith focuses attention on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how government denial of ecological realties in southern societies—regions considered “developing”— can lead to catastrophic environmental degradation. Smith’s novel also diverges from other YA novels in that her protagonist is of African descent.</p> <p>This thesis considers how global understandings of the North/South divide can lead to understandings of the divide on a local scale. Through its setting, conflict, and characterization, <em>Orleans</em>, exposes the intersections of environmental injustice with racial and gendered based oppression in order to critique the local North/South divide in present-day New Orleans. Smith’s novel also advocates for the reconciliation of the divide through its dramatization of ecofeminist principles, namely Rosemary Radford Ruether’s “ecofeminist ethic” and Vendana Shiva’s “decolonization of the north.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Coleman, Micah-Jade M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Martina Sciolino
• Eric Tribunella
• Linda Allen

• YA literature
• Ecofeminism
• Environmental Injustice
• Environmental Racism
• African American Studies
• American Literature
• Children's and Young Adult Literature
• Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority
• Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/191

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1210